Trend Play TOP TOY continues to push for Hong Kong stocks, has Ye Guofu's capital empire taken another step forward?

Ask AI · How does Ye Guofu’s cross-market capital deployment help boost China’s trendy toy business?

On March 31, TOP TOY (Chinese name: Dachaowan International Group Co., Ltd.), which was spun off from Miniso’s trendy toy business, updated its prospectus and continued to push for a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing. At present, companies listed in which Ye Guofu’s family holds controlling and minority stakes are spread across the US, Hong Kong, and A-share markets, and TOP TOY may further expand its capital footprint.

According to the prospectus, JPMorgan Chase and UBS are the joint sponsors for TOP TOY. This is the company’s second time filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; previously, it had submitted a listing application on September 26, 2025. The prospectus states that trendy toys generally refer to toys with high collectible value, where high added value is achieved through secondary creations driven by unique design and IP. China’s trendy toy market size grew from RMB 24.9 billion in 2020 to RMB 87.5 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 28.6%.

TOP TOY has 24 proprietary IPs and 42 licensed IPs, and it has established cooperation with internationally well-known copyright holders such as Sanrio, Disney, and Crayon Shin-chan. By continuously launching co-branded products, the company keeps its brand hot. The company emphasizes “maximizing IP value” as its core strategy and builds an integrated platform covering IP development, product design, supply chain management, and omnichannel sales. Its product matrix covers multiple categories including figure toys, 3D assembly models, soft vinyl plush toys, blind boxes, and more.

Since 2023, TOP TOY’s performance has grown at a relatively fast pace. The company’s revenue in 2023, 2024, and 2025 was RMB 1.461 billion, RMB 1.9 billion, and RMB 3.587 billion, respectively; gross profit was RMB 459 million, RMB 624 million, and RMB 1.152 billion, respectively; and profit during the period was RMB 212 million, RMB 294 million, and RMB 101 million, respectively. The company said its 89% revenue growth in 2025 and a 66% year-on-year decline in profit were mainly attributable to increased share-based payment expenses settled with equity, as well as changes in the carrying value of redemption liabilities generated by preferred shares.

Financial data shows that figure toys are TOP TOY’s core source of revenue, accounting for about 60%-70% of total sales revenue. Soft vinyl plush toys are the fastest-growing category; their revenue share has already exceeded 10% and shows a continuing upward trend. In terms of sales channels, TOP TOY has built a sales system centered on offline stores with full online coverage across the entire domain. Offline revenue accounts for nearly 90%. As of the end of 2025, the company has 334 TOP TOY stores.

It is worth noting that TOP TOY has a high degree of customer concentration. Its controlling shareholder, Miniso Group, is also the largest customer of this trendy toy retail chain.

According to the prospectus, for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2024, and 2025, revenue from the top five customers accounted for 76.5%, 66.2%, and 59.5%, respectively, of the company’s total revenue in each period. Among them, the revenue share of the largest customer, Miniso Group, was 53.5%, 48.3%, and 46.6%, respectively.

Ye Guofu and his Miniso have gone through a process from “ten-yuan stores” to “Japanese designer brands,” and then to “value-for-money + IP collection stores.” Splitting TOP TOY for a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing is Ye Guofu’s new phase of capital and industrial operations.

In a Miniso announcement, it explained the reasons for the spin-off in this way: to enable TOP TOY’s independent business value to be reflected more accurately, making it easier for investors to evaluate separately; an independent TOP TOY can attract investor groups that focus on high-growth opportunities in the trendy toy segment; it helps TOP TOY establish an independent image in the capital markets and a financing platform; and it ties the interests of its management team more closely to the company’s performance.

But on the other side of TOP TOY’s spin-off IPO, it highlights Ye Guofu’s latest capital playbook: leveraging the resources of the parent company, Miniso, to incubate high-growth businesses, catching the trendy toy boom, and then achieving value re-rating and wealth amplification through listing.

Media commentary suggests that TOP TOY has built its channel capabilities using Miniso’s experience. On the supply-chain side as well, TOP TOY has benefited from Miniso’s dividend—relying on Miniso to test new products promptly and adjust strategies, and to capture young people’s preferences.

For Ye Guofu’s family, if TOP TOY manages to complete an IPO, they will also be the biggest beneficiaries. In terms of equity structure, Ye Guofu and his wife hold, through offshore entities including Mini Investment Limited, YGF MC Limited, YGF Development Limited, YGF MN Limited, YY Capital Ltd., YYY MC Limited, and YYY Development Limited, an aggregate of about 63.7% of Miniso’s issued shares. As of the latest prospectus publication date, Miniso holds about 86.9% of the total issued share capital of TOP TOY.

(Author: Du Yuan)